


Controversial labor forces & Questionable business partners

by niigoki



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bodyguard AU, F/F, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-18 19:19:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4717487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niigoki/pseuds/niigoki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She knew her father blamed her. The company had a name to uphold and the eyes of the world were always turned on her family, waiting for something embarrassing to happen so they could get a headline. </p><p>“Oh, but you won’t get only one bodyguard.” Her father got up, towering over her. “To make sure you don’t screw up again, I hired three.”</p><p>Bodyguard AU for our favorite heiress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Mask of the Red Death

**Author's Note:**

> And here I am writing another multi-chapter RWBY fic when I didn't even finish my other one OH WELL. I just needed to do this, this AU is something I crave. 
> 
> And yes, I do ship Weiss with everyone and yes, all the girls will probably get to kiss our favorite snow angel at some point, goodbye.

Weiss never really thought that red was a color that suited her. Mostly, her wardrobe and accessories were all either white or gray, even black sometimes when she was feeling more daring, but red was almost always out of the question. It was just too brash and her father always told her that it stood out too much in the crowd. And as the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, her face already did the job of attracting attention to herself wherever she went, so why make it worse by wearing such a flashy color?

And now, looking down at the knife in her ribs and the blood soaking through the fabric of her dress, Weiss decided that red definitely didn’t suit her at all. It was honestly the first and only thing she was able to think before losing consciousness and collapsing on the floor in the middle of the street.

* * *

 

Weiss woke up slowly with the sound of muffled voices in the background screaming and arguing, apparently completely ignoring the fact that she was in the room next door. She tried to open her eyes but the clarity of the place made it a difficult task. After a few minutes trying to adjust her senses, Weiss finally got the strength to look around for a bit and realized she was on her own room back at the mansion. A machine beside her beeped every couple of seconds and she noticed a tube was attached to a vein in her arm, a bag with transparent liquid hanging above her head.

She tried to sit up but a sharp pain made its way to her torso and she nearly collapsed again. That’s when she remembered what’d happened.

_Oh, that’s right. Someone was smart enough to stab me in the middle of a crowded street at lunchtime._

Sighing softly because of the pain, Weiss closed her eyes again, waiting for someone to barge into her room and go check up on her. It didn’t take long.

“Miss Schnee?” A soft voice made its way to the room as the door opened. The family’s doctor got in, smiling as he realized she was awake. “Oh, you woke up! I am glad.”

“Yes, I suppose I have.” Her voice was raspy and she had to force it out. “Thank you for taking care of me as usual, Doctor Row.”

“Always a pleasure, my dear. Your father is worried sick about you, I should probably tell him you regained consciousness.”

“I’m sure he is.” Weiss had to hold back from rolling her eyes. She knew the person who was yelling a few moments ago was her father, and his next target would be her once he got into the room. “Before you talk to him, however, could you tell me my condition? I take it I was stabbed by something sharp.”

The old man took a handkerchief from his pocket and swept his forehead. “Yes, yes, what a terrible incident it was. Right in the middle of the day, too! The police are investigating this case as we speak. Your father made clear that this murderer _must_ be imprisoned immediately.”

“Well he is hardly a murderer, seeing as I am still alive.” Why she was defending the person who definitely tried to kill her, Weiss didn’t know. She guessed it was because her father’s words were always so exaggerated that it made her angry – always assuming people were a certain thing with no knowledge of their background whatsoever.

“…I suppose that’s true, yes. Anyway, you will definitely be all right. Luckily he didn’t hit any vital organs! Your blood loss and shock were what probably made you faint, but nothing you should worry about.”

Weiss looked down where the knife had pierced, a gauze now covering the skin. “I’m happy to hear that.”

The doctor nodded. “I should go and talk to Mr. Schnee now. You need your rest and plenty of water. I will ask one of the maids to bring you something to eat as well. Have a good night, Miss Schnee.”

“Thank you, Doctor. Goodnight.”

The doors closed again and she was alone. Weiss knew she wasn’t going to get any sleep, though; her father was absolutely coming to talk to her as soon as he knew she was awake.

Three minutes later, he opened the door, basically slamming it on the wall. “We are going to talk, young lady.”

* * *

 

“Absolutely not!”

“I am not giving you a choice, I am informing you of my decision, and that is final.”

“But father—”

“Do not contradict me!” His voice was loud and aggressive, making Weiss flinch. All her childhood she’d heard that tone and as much as she tried to stay still when it happened, her reflexes always told her to cower away from it. It’d been a week since the stabbing and she was already able to walk around the house – slowly, but it was better than being in a wheelchair. Weiss recomposed herself and tried again.

“It’s not my wish to contradict you, father, but I do not think I need a bodyguard! I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, I’ve had fencing and martial arts lessons ever since I was a child, you cannot—”

“Do not tell me what I can or cannot do.” He stepped forward, a menacing aura radiating from his body. “You got injured on the street because you were alone. If there’d been a competent observer accompanying you at the time, this entire incident would have been prevented and these parasites wouldn’t be all over me!”

He threw a journal on the glass table, which slid towards Weiss. The headline read “SCHNEE STABBING: WEISS SCHNEE, HEIRESS OF THE SCHNEE DUST COMPANY, TARGETED AGAIN.” She knew her father blamed her for causing such a scene. The company had a name to uphold and the eyes of the world were always turned on her family, waiting for something embarrassing to happen so they could get a headline. And since her father was always extremely cautious, everyone expected the youngest daughter to mess something up – the rebel, radical teenager who actually got out of the house like a normal person, how dare she.

With a defeated sigh, Weiss got up. “Very well. If you believe it’s the best decision, I will accept a bodyguard.”

“Oh, but you won’t get only one bodyguard.” Her father got up as well, towering over her. “To make sure you don’t screw up again, I hired three.”

Weiss felt her wound throb.

* * *

 

Already on the next day, Mr. Schnee left a note on the kitchen, notifying Weiss of a visit from a man named Ozpin, who was responsible for the hiring of the new bodyguards. She sighed, still abhorring the idea of having not only one, but _three_ people following her around wherever she went from that day on. Honestly, she had no idea how her routine would change; would the bodyguards have to sleep on her room as well? Supposedly they would live in the mansion in one of the guest rooms, but knowing her father, Weiss was sure he’d make some ridiculous excuse to have them watch her even on her sleep. The thought made her shiver.

After a healthy breakfast to keep her recovery at bay, Weiss went to the living room, putting on her best fake smile.

_Always smile whenever we get visitors. Their personality doesn’t matter in the slightest, but the money they are willing to spend on a nice host does._

Weiss could hear her father’s words echoing on her mind and she shook her head to keep them away. One day she would escape that hell called “being a Schnee locked up on her own household”, like her sister did. Winter was the lucky one.

Mere five minutes passed before the doorbell rang. Two of the maids opened the mansion’s marble doors and a gray-haired man with a cane thanked them before making his way in. Weiss got up from the couch and walked to his direction.

“Mr. Ozpin! It is a pleasure to meet you.” Weiss stretched a hand and the man shook it, returning a gentle smile.

“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Schnee. I must say, I’ve visited the homes of many famous and important people on this side of the country, but being able to lend my services to your family is truly an honor.”

Weiss analyzed Ozpin’s way of speaking and behavior, like she normally did with most of her father’s acquaintances. It was just something her sister had told her to do as often as possible; father’s friends were mostly terrible people, and she had to be able to tell apart the liars and corrupts from actual decent human beings.

Ozpin intrigued her, though. Something about him was odd, but not exactly threatening to her instincts. It was like he emitted a neutral aura.

“I should be the one thanking you for your services.” She decided to carefully trust him for now. It wasn’t like she had a choice anyway.

“I understand that it’s been quite dangerous to go out unaccompanied lately. I am sincerely sorry for the incident.” Ozpin bowed his head slightly, like it was his fault she’d been stabbed.

“Oh, please don’t worry about it!” Weiss laughed weakly. “It was unfortunate, but I suppose I needed to be more careful while walking alone.”

There was a sour taste on her mouth as she said these words – her father had blamed _her_ for being stabbed, and Weiss knew that arguing against this ridiculous logic was useless. So if she needed to make a good impression for this Ozpin person, then she would pretend to agree with the fact that she was indeed at fault for being a victim.

“Miss Schnee, if I may be so bold,” Ozpin rested both hands on his cane. “The only person at fault here is the stabber. No amount of carefulness would prevent his deranged mind from committing such an act. So please, do not blame yourself for it.”

For a moment Weiss was speechless. She was expecting a simple laugh and an agreement, not actual words of comfort from someone her father hired.

“O-of course.” She blinked and quickly snapped out of it. “I mean, you are completely right, Mr. Ozpin. Thank you so much for your kind words. Oh, but where are my manners, let’s have a seat!”

“That won’t be necessary, Miss Schnee, I will shortly be on my way. I am only here to introduce you to my Huntresses.” His soft and friendly expression changed; he almost seemed like a proud father now – an expression Weiss only knew from movies and series.

“Huntresses?”

“Your so called bodyguards. My company calls them Hunters and Huntresses for marketing purposes.” Ozpin chuckled slightly. Weiss nodded, but something hadn’t clicked on her mind yet.

Then she noticed.

“Wait, huntresses…? Then…”

He turned his attention back to the mansion’s doors, which were still opened and made a sign with his hand as if urging someone to enter. Weiss tore off from her composed self to try to peek behind him, and then she saw them.

Three young women wearing suits walked in, their loafers clicking on the marble floor. They stopped next to Ozpin with both hands behind their backs and an expression that was unreadable. Weiss was pretty sure they were all around her age, and her mind danced; she had no idea what to make of that.

“Girls, please introduce yourselves to your new mistress.”

The first one, a tall blonde girl stepped forward. “Hi! My name is Yang Xiao Long. I am the team’s leader, since I’ve been working on this job for longer, and so far I’ve served and protected seven clients in my career. None of them ever got hurt on my watch, and I’ll make sure my services to you won’t be any different, Miss Schnee. My specialty is close combat, with a focus on boxing and kickboxing. I also know first-aid and will do occasional massages. I look forward to working with you.” She bowed slightly, smiled, and went back to her post. Weiss’s heart skipped a beat.

The second one, a black-haired and serious girl took her turn. “I am Blake Belladonna, Yang’s partner. We’ve worked and trained together for four years, and our synchrony is impeccable. My specialty is analyzing environments and planning events perfectly, according to your desires. I’ve also trained to handle any kind of weapon to ensure the client’s safety, working discreetly to avoid unnecessary attention. I will be glad to protect you as long as necessary, Miss Schnee.” And with another bow, she got back in line. Weiss felt her cheeks redden and mentally cursed herself.

Then there was the last one. She was small and looked younger than the other two girls, with a short brown hair with a few red streaks on it. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Schnee! I’m Ruby Rose, Yang’s sister. I am new at this job, and only worked with Blake and Yang for a few months, but I am completely confident in my skills! I specialize in martial arts as well, and my greatest feature is my speed and agility. Don’t worry, I’d gladly put my life on the line for you, ma’m.” With a sheepish smile, Ruby got back in like, apparently improvising this speech.

Weiss’s head was spinning. This was _way_ out of her league.

“These three young women graduated as the top of the class in the Beacon Bodyguard Academy, all with perfect scores. They are my elite Huntresses, and there is no one else I’d recommend more to ensue the safety of someone from the Schnee family.” Ozpin presented with a hint of pride in his voice.

Weiss could only stand there, with her eyes glued to the three girls in front of her.

“Well, it is my policy to ask you if you are happy with the Huntresses picked out for you. If there are any problems, we’d be happy to appoint new ones.” He said that as if he already knew what her answer would be.

She honestly wanted to say that yes, there was a problem, and the problem was the fact that these girls seemed extremely inexperienced and unable to protect a baby sloth. But somehow, deep down, Weiss knew that they were… well…

Perfect.

“…There is no problem at all.” The words got stuck on her throat, and she had to open her mouth twice to get them out. Ozpin smiled, and approached the heiress.

“Miss Schnee,” His tone changed to a comforting one. “I want you to know that you do not need to treat these girls as solely professionals that work for you. I believe that soon enough your relationship with them will become familiar. Think of them not as bodyguards, but as…” Ozpin looked up, trying to find a word.

“Friends?” Weiss spilled it; the word felt weird on her tongue.

“Exactly.” He smiled, staring into her eyes. It was probably the first time in a long while that Weiss felt like someone was actually being nice to her without expecting anything else in return. Her chest felt warm and she stared back at the three girls. They seemed more relaxed after hearing the words from Ozpin, and Ruby even waved at her when she realized Weiss was staring.

“Thank you, Mr. Ozpin. Truly.” The words were sincere, just like her smile.

“You are very welcome.” Patting her in the shoulder, Ozpin turned around. “Well, that’s my cue. Your father already signed the contract, so from now on, Ruby, Blake and Yang will be in your care.”

“You mean she will be in ours.” Yang joked and Blake poked her arm with an elbow. Ruby tried to hold back a laugh, but failed.

“That too.” Ozpin made his way to the doors. “Farewell, Miss Schnee. If these three give you trouble, feel free to call me.”

Weiss looked at the bodyguards who seemed to be lost in their own world for a moment, and smiled again. “You know what, I think they will give me trouble,” Then she stared back at Ozpin. “But I don’t think I’ll be calling.”


	2. The Fall of the House of Usher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The harem begins *coughs* anyway
> 
> Hope you're enjoying the story so far! Plot soon to follow.

Well, this situation was just weird.

Weiss did have a few friends and she’d shown them around the mansion before, but there was a difference between coming up with a conversation between people she already knew and people who she’d never seen before and were suddenly moving in. She tried to think of it as a normal business tour: Talk about the history of the house, show the guests the important rooms, occasionally throwing in a “as grandfather, the founder of our company, always used to say…” and wait for the impressed reactions of the visitors.

That plan quickly proved to be a failure though, since these were three girls her age, not old lawyers and investors. They were also going to live there for god knows how long, so it was a double disaster.

“And here is the kitchen, where I usually have breakfast at eight o’clock,” Weiss gestured to the place, still feeling a bit awkward. She had to explain her routine as well, so they could adapt their work with her daily life. “Of course, you are free to eat whenever necessary, just press the bell here and Junior, our cook, will be glad to serve you.”

“Your cook is named Junior?” Yang giggled for some silly reason.

“Yang!” Ruby half-whispered in a scold.

“What?

“I apologize for that,” Blake rolled her eyes, slapping the blonde’s arm. “Yang can be a bit of an inconvenience.”

“Just asking a question…” The team’s leader mumbled, puffing her cheeks. Weiss blinked, stunned. Not because of Yang’s random question, but because of the way the three of them were acting; it was so nonchalant and easygoing, two things that Weiss just didn’t have the luxury to experience anymore. She definitely didn’t think some strangers would be able to make her feel relaxed so easily.

All of her insecurities disappeared momentarily and she brought a hand to her mouth, chuckling as well.

“Yes, Yang, his name is Junior. I have to say he hates it, though.”

“What did I tell ya?” Yang blinked back to Blake, who just sighed.

The tour kept going for a while, as Weiss showed them her father’s office (explaining very clearly that they should probably never in their lives go in there), her own bedroom (in which Ruby squealed appointing all the cute and cool things in it), the dining room, the garden, the library (Weiss was sure she saw Blake’s eyes widen and glow a little), her fencing room (she took the time to explain a bit of fencing tactics and movements to the three of them, who eagerly paid attention) and finally their own bedroom.

The guest room was almost the same size as Weiss’s bedroom, which is to say _very_ big. The maids had organized and cleaned it the day before, so everything seemed like it was new. There were three single beds in the far right, a big wardrobe that could fit all of their clothes and more, a shelf and desk with three computers on the left wall, and it was also connected to a bathroom on the bottom right. In the middle, a 63 inches TV was positioned facing the beds.

“And this is where you will be staying.” Weiss opened the door and Ruby and Yang emitted a “wow” sound. Blake was far more composed than the two, but her expression betrayed her; she was obviously also amazed with it.

Ruby looked at Weiss. “Can we… Um…”

The heiress raised an eyebrow, confused for a moment. Then she noticed that Ruby was basically jumping up and down on her feet, unable to contain her excitement. “Oh. Of course, go right in!”

The brunette dashed forward and jumped on the bed in the middle. “I call this one!”

“Ruby, please—“ Blake tried, but a mass of blonde hair followed right after, jumping on the bed nearest the bathroom.

“Mine’s this one!” Yang jumped as well, spreading her arms comfortably. If there was ever someone to call peaceful in that house, it was probably the two sisters, and they’d barely spent two hours in it.

Weiss and Blake made their way into the room, stopping close to the bed that was left, and Blake buried her face in her hand. “I am going to throw you two out of the window.”

Weiss couldn’t hold back a smile. “It’s totally fine. This is your house now, I don’t want you to feel unwelcomed here.”

“I understand, Miss Schnee, but there are certain behaviors that—“ Once again Blake was interrupted as a pillow flew at her face at a stupidly high speed. Weiss covered her mouth with both hands and yelped, looking at the source of it; somehow she wasn’t surprised when she saw Yang’s arm stretched forward.

“Miss Schnee said it’s fine, Blake, lighten up.” She had a smirk on, and Ruby sat up straight very quickly.

Turning back to Blake, Weiss’s instincts told her it was better if she backed off from the serious bodyguard. Blake grabbed the pillow from her face with a trembling hand. Her cheeks and forehead were red from the impact, and her eyebrows quivered.

“Xiao Long.” She muttered, strangely calm. Weiss noticed that Ruby had ducked behind her bed, but Yang didn’t seem to have caught the memo. “Throwing pillows at people so close to your client is not a very sound business practice.”

“I was just trying to cheer you up, Blakey. Would it kill you to not act so formal once in a while?” Yang’s voice had a dangerous tone of mockery.

“No. I suppose it would not.” Blake dropped the arm that held the pillow and the dangerous mood seemed to have vanished. Ruby’s head peeked from behind her bed, confused, as if the bomb that was supposed to explode just decided to defuse.

“I am glad you see my point. Now, let’s just—“ Yang couldn’t complete her phrase, since the same pillow made its way to _her_ face with the same amount of speed she’d put into her throw. But the team leader seemed to have predicted that, and dodged to the left, making the pillow hit the wall behind her. “Ha! Gotta be quicker than th—“

And then a new pillow hit her face. Yang fell back with the strength of the impact, lying down with both arms spread.

“Outsmarted, once again.” Blake chanted, her smirk practically enveloping her voice.

Weiss had no idea what just happened. Blake surely only had one pillow in hand, where did that second one come from? Then she looked over at Blake’s own bed and noticed the missing link. Weiss hadn’t even _seen_ the girl grab it, much less throw it. And the way Yang avoided getting hit that first time too – those reflexes were insane.

“Ohhhh, she got you good!” Ruby climbed back on her bed to make fun of her sister, who just raised her hands in a surrendering manner.

Then something even weirder happened.

Blake started laughing. A genuine, full-on laughter, which was contagious since Ruby began to crack up as well, followed by Yang’s muffled giggles because of the pillow sill covering her face.

Weiss looked around the room and tried to process the entire event, but everything just seemed so _absurd_. The sound of laughter felt so foreignto her, especially because it was happening inside her house, a place she no longer associated with joy or happiness. For the first time she realized how miserable and alone she’d been all these years living with only her father around and no one else. The reason she tried to get out of the mansion so much these days was because she just couldn’t bear being cooped up in there for too long, it just made her skin crawl with fear and loneliness.

And now there she was, witnessing three complete strangers doing crazy and unexpected things right in front of her, _Weiss Schnee_ , with apparently no concern for formality whatsoever. Well, maybe except for Blake, who did try to act professionally, but was now going along with the silliness of it all. It was too much to register.

Even so, Weiss felt herself getting dragged along the chain of laughs, her eyes moistening with tears of actual happiness. She decided to allow her brain to rest for at least now, and just went with the flow, holding her stomach, which was beginning to hurt from the giggles.

The four girls looked like just normal teenagers having a slumber party.

* * *

 

After the pillow episode, Blake forced Yang and Ruby to apologize for acting so childishly, and also apologized for not being able to control herself and joining in the fight. Weiss disregarded that completely.

“Don’t apologize, please. Honestly, it was the most fun I’ve had in… well, in years. Thank you for that.”

Weiss was being truthful, but at the same time felt sad as she said those words. She knew that these moments of silliness and craziness would end as soon as her father got home and talked to the three bodyguards. He would impose rules on them, just as he did with anything that threatened to get near his comfort zone. And since he could fire them at will, the Huntresses would have no choice but to obey _his_ orders instead of Weiss’s. That’s how it always happened.

Suddenly the three bodyguards looked at each other and smiled widely.

“Well then, first mission complete!” Yang said, cheerfully.

Weiss frowned, snapping away from her thoughts. “First mission?”

The blonde scratched the back of her head, sheepishly. “Well, you see… The moment we walked in and got to see you face-to-face Miss Schnee, we noticed that our presence was somewhat unwanted.”

The heiress’s heart started pounding strongly in her chest. No, she couldn’t lose those precious moments they just had together because of her initial doubts and fears. “N-not at all! I never—”

“It’s completely understandable, ma’am.” Blake intervened. “Most of our clients feel awkward around us at first, some don’t want to engage in a personal relationship and only wish to have us work from a distance. It doesn’t matter the client, though, we always wish to understand them better.”

“We’ve been trained to observe and analyze human behaviors, mistress Schnee. And, I’m very sorry if I’m intruding in something I shouldn’t, but you seemed… so sad.” Yang finished with a glimpse of empathy in her eyes. “And I’m willing to guess that it wasn’t just because of the incident either.”

Weiss didn’t know how to respond. “I…”

“If I misunderstood, please forgive me.” Yang continued, getting on one knee and bowing, as a knight would do. “As the team captain, I was willing to take this chance and just… well, try to make you smile at least.”

Weiss’s mind was a mess. She didn’t know whether to cry or smile, to laugh or feel shocked. All in all she knew why her body was trembling now, though; those words felt so much like what her mother would tell her when she was younger and Mrs. Schnee was alive. It stroke a nerve and made her feel wanted again.

“…You’re always catching me so off balance.” Weiss said, rubbing an eye. She closed her eyes to regain her posture and grinned. “You did make me smile. Thank you again. Actually, I have a request to make, as your client.”

She was not going to lose them now.

“Of course.” Yang got up, making her way back to Ruby and Blake.

“Once my father gets home tonight he’ll want to talk to you. He’ll probably explain your activities and duties as my securities, and I’m sure there will be lots of rules imposed. I know that he’s the one who’s paying you, but please, don’t—”

“We weren’t planning to.” Ruby spoke this time. She’d been quiet for a while, as if not really sure of what to do in certain situations; Weiss assumed it was because she was new at the job. Blake and Yang turned to her, surprised.

“Huh?”

“You were going to say to not listen to him, right? Because he’ll want to ruin the relationship we might have with you?” Ruby said that as if it was obvious and shrunk a little when realized all three pair of eyes were glued to her. “Umm… did I get that wrong?”

“N-no, that’s exactly it.” Weiss blinked. “I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t feel threatened by his words. I… I want to know you better. Like Mr. Ozpin said, think of you as possible friends.” She felt her face redden as she said it out loud.

“We’d love to chat! Right Ruby?” Yang said, grabbing her sister’s neck in a playful headlock.

“Argh! Let me go!” Ruby protested as she tried to escape her grip, but just failed miserably. Both of them laughed and Weiss felt herself calming down again. She looked at Blake, who was smiling at the two without realizing.

“It would be a pleasure to know more about yourself as well, Miss Schnee.” Blake nodded.

“Oh, one more thing.” The heiress put both hands on her hips and smirked. “Please call me Weiss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The harem begins. *coughs* anyway.
> 
> Hope you're enjoying the story so far. Plot soon to follow!


	3. The Tell-Tale Heart

“So, how’s my favorite stabber doing today?”

The room was dark and empty; the only source of light was a red lava lamp in the corner with its blobs floating up and down slowly. The woman’s voice echoed in a silky way – as if she was singing to her worst enemy — and her silhouette was elegant as she sat on a beautiful chair that almost resembled a throne.

“I thought I was your favorite stabber.” It was the turn of a male voice. The boy was lying on the chair at her left, with both feet in the air and playing a game in a portal console. He sounded bored, his sentence nothing more than a tease to a third person in the room.

“You’re her favorite _nuisance_ , Mercury.” A green-haired girl replied, sitting on the woman’s left and polishing a gun. She also looked uninterested in the events that were happening in the room, simply focusing on making her weapon shiny and clean.

“At least I’m her favorite something.” The boy refuted with a smirk. The girl shot him an angry expression, but then simply rolled her eyes, deciding that arguing with him wasn’t worth it – at least not in front of their leader.

“Emerald, Mercury, you’re both my favorite murderers.” The woman said in a peaceful manner, as if she didn’t want her favorite kids to fight. “When I assign a job, you get it done. When I say kill the target, you kill the target.” Then she looked down at the man kneeling beneath her and her expression changed completely. “And when I say stab a Schnee, what do you do?”

“We stick the knife all the way through.” Emerald answered, moving her gaze down as well.

“Please…” The man tried to speak, but he was shaking. Two others who were holding him down kicked his stomach and he fell forward. “Ugh!”

“Oh, Tuckson,” The woman got up and walked towards him, stepping on his head with one of her heels. “Just the tip of the knife doesn’t work, dear. Did you know that you were the first person to work for me who failed on this mission? Killing a Schnee is basically our entrance exam. And you didn’t pass.”

Tuckson was crying now, unable to defend himself. There was a crushing aura of death in that room and he knew it all came from the woman stepping on his face.

When he agreed to join those mercenaries it was all because the paycheck was absurdly high and he needed the money. He was big, bulky and strong, so he got accepted easily. His first tasks were simple as well, things like transporting boxes to different hideouts, checking for cameras and other security equipment from the police and turning them off; basic stuff, really. But then one day Cinder Fall came to him in person and told him of a very important job, something only Tuckson could do. ‘Finish this job and you’ll be free to leave with all the money you get from the mission.’ She’d said. How could he refuse? Of course at the time he didn’t know he would have to murder the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. It didn’t go as well as he expected.

And now he was sure he was going to die.

“T-there were too many people, I c-couldn’t… I will try again I p-promise…” Still, he didn’t want to go down without taking a chance.

“Will you? Oh, that’s wonderful, Tuckson!” Cinder removed her foot from his head and sat back down on the throne. The two men brought him back on his knees, harshly. “How about tomorrow? Just go and stab her right this time, okay?”

Tuckson breathed fast, a spark of hope making his head light. He couldn’t believe it. His desperate plea had actually convinced Cinder Fall to give him a another chance? “O-of course! I’ll f-follow her around the whole d-day and definitely get it d-done!”

“Wonderful.” She nodded to the men and they untied him. “Glad I can count on you. See you tomorrow, then.”

“T-thank you, Lady Fall, thank you so much…” Tuckson turned around and made his way to the door. He couldn’t suppress a smile. Blinking away the tears, his mind raced at a thousand miles per hour, just thinking about how lucky he was to get a new opportunity. Maybe because he was a big guy who’d done everything right for the organization for as long as he been there? Tuckson didn’t know, and tried not to think much of it. All he did know was that he would definitely get home and hug his daughter like he’d never hugged before, then take a good shower, eat the best dinner of his life and—

With a loud sound, Tuckson felt a sharp pain on his backs. His vision blurred and he fell forward, feeling his mind fade.

“Oops.” Emerald mumbled, her gun smoking from the shot.

Mercury got up with a grin and made his way to Tuckson’s limp body. He was still breathing in uneven intervals, but wouldn’t last much. Crouching down, Mercury whispered next to his ear. “Second chances don’t exist in this world, my friend.”

The last thing Tuckson thought before shutting down was his daughter waiting for him to return home that night.

* * *

 

Weiss woke up the next morning feeling light-headed. Somehow it looked like everything had changed around the house, even if it was the first day of the girls living with her. The guest room was also downstairs, and Weiss’s own room was on the upper floor, so nothing had changed much exactly. She still woke up all alone, but still, there was a feeling of optimism she never felt before.

The heiress got up and started her morning routine: washing her face, brushing her teeth and combing her hair, tying it up on a side ponytail. She stared at the mirror for a while and looked deep into her own eyes – something she got used to do for some reason – then took a deep breath.

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

* * *

 

Arriving at the kitchen Weiss honestly didn’t expect to see anyone, just Junior getting ready to serve her breakfast. But Yang, Ruby and Blake were all there sitting at the table, already eating their morning toast.

“Oh, morning Weiss!” Ruby greeted with her mouth full, receiving a scold from Blake. Weiss honestly didn’t think the bodyguards would stop calling her Miss Schnee for a while, but apparently her wish was an order. Quite literally.

“Good morning, Ruby.” She nodded at the other two. “Blake, Yang.”

“Hello!” Yang raised a hand and turned her attention back to her coffee.

“Nice morning, Miss Schnee.” Well, at least Blake was still acting like Blake. “Ruby, would it kill you to eat in small bites?”

The brunette answered something, but it was impossible to understand it since there was literally an entire loaf of bread stuck on her mouth. Weiss sat down next to Blake, smiling. “At least I guess this means she liked the breakfast.”

“It’s so delicious. Also, me and Junior bonded this morning.” Yang pressed the bell that was used to call Junior to the table. In a couple of seconds, the chef arrived with Weiss’s usual breakfast of eggs benedict and a cup of tea on a silver tray.

“Good morning, Miss Schnee—” He then looked over at Yang’s hand on the bell. “Oh for crying out loud, I am not done with it yet, okay? Chill out.”

“You’ve got ten minutes left, Junior.” Yang teased as he served Weiss. “Or the bet is off.”

“I’m doing it. You’ll see, soon.”

Ruby swallowed her bread finally after a while. “Bet? What are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing important, little sis. Just a friendly quarrel between me and Junior.”

“Why do you keep saying his name in every sentence?” Blake had to cut in since she was her partner, and knowing Yang for as long as she did, the blonde was probably doing something really stupid or really dangerous. Honestly, usually it was a mix of both.

“I don’t know what you mean, Junior.”

“I’m Blake.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Alright, fine!” Junior took off his chef hat and stormed back to the kitchen, the swinging doors opening and closing quickly as he passed them. Weiss quietly started to eat her eggs benedict.

“…Alright, what was that?” Blake said with a deadpan expression.

“Nothing you should worry about.” Yang replied, finishing her cup of coffee.

“That only makes me worry more.”

“Did you sleep well, Weiss?” Ruby tried changing subjects before the argument got heated as it usually happened with the two. The heiress finished chewing politely before answering.

“Yes, actually. It’s been a while since I’ve slept so well.”

“I’m glad,” Ruby’s smile was sincere and made Weiss blush a little. She always pegged the girl as the playful and innocent type, but she was showing a caring side that caught her a little off guard. All of the three bodyguards sometimes acted more like a mom than anything else, and even though it was a bit strange, it still warmed Weiss’s heart.

“You know, I used to have nightmares a lot,” Ruby continued the conversation suddenly. “And there were times Yang wasn’t there to comfort me when they happened, so I got really scared. But then she taught me something to keep them away.”

Weiss was surprised at how random this seemed, but then she realized that Ruby must’ve noticed that she was having nightmares constantly. Her perception was frightening. “…What is it?”

“Think about pink clouds.”

For a moment there was a pause; Yang and Blake’s argument was still going on in the distance but nobody was really paying attention. Weiss slowly raised an eyebrow. “…Pink clouds.”

“Yep! Well either that or sleep with your favorite weapon. Also helps, though Crescent Rose was a bit cold.” The tiny girl shivered a bit and Weiss just had so many questions regarding that sentence. She didn’t have time to ask any of them though, since Junior came back from the kitchen holding the largest tray of cookies Weiss has ever witnessed in her life.

The nonsense in that day was already too much and it wasn’t even nine o’clock.

“Here! Sixty-nine chocolate chip cookies, all warm and baked to perfection! Now drop it!” The chef seemed exhausted as he yelled at Yang. The blonde stopped her discussion with Blake and got up, a smug grin frozen in her face.

“I will need to count those, Junior, don’t chant victory just yet.” She moved slowly around the table to grasp a better view from the ridiculous amount of baked goods, keeping one hand on her chin as she pretended to be very focused. Junior breathed impatiently with arms crossed, his foot tapping on the ground. As Yang got close to Ruby, she discreetly touched her sister’s shoulder with an elbow, as if giving her a sign. Ruby immediately got it, slightly sniffing to acknowledge the message received. Yang’s eyes moved quickly on her sockets, counting and observing the cookies as she hummed. Junior was losing his patience.

“Gods, girl, there are exactly sixty-nine cookies in there, I counted them myself!”

“Yeah, the thing is, I don’t trust your judgment, Junior. You could’ve missed one in the hurry, or _pretended_ to finish all of them in those last 10 minutes so I would stop bothering you. There is no certainty here. I’m a girl who values accuracy.”

“Oh, not this thing again…” Blake whispered, finally understanding what her partner was doing. Weiss was still too shocked to formulate a decent phrase, but her curiosity forced her to ask.

“…What is she...?” She whispered as well, afraid to interject in the scene in front of her.

“It’s just that… In the academy there are some qualifications needed to pass,” Blake got closer to the heiress to mumble in her ear. “We are taught many abilities, supposedly to be used in combat or in a pinch. The problem is…”

“Aha! There it is, I knew I couldn’t count on you,” Yang suddenly announced, pointing to the tray. “There are sixty- _eight_ cookies, Junior. You missed one!”

“What?! Impossible!” The chef started to count as well and after a few moments his shoulders dropped. “B-but… I was sure…”

“Well, bet is off.” Yang slid towards him, putting an arm around his shoulders. “It’s okay, Junior, your name is not that bad. Who knows, we might be able to negotiate another bet some other time. Thanks for the cookies, though.” And with nothing more to declare, Yang sat down next to her sister and started eating. The chef simply dragged himself back to the kitchen, defeated.

“…Ruby and Yang use what they learn for pranks.” Blake concluded, a vein popping in her head. Weiss was still so confused, until she noticed one very small crumb in the corner of Ruby’s mouth. Then she put the pieces together.

“You ate a cookie while Yang was counting!” She shouted out of reflex and then covered her mouth, afraid of letting Junior listen. Yang almost chocked on her food.

“H-how did you realize it?” Ruby asked, seriously surprised.

“There is a small crumb over here,” Weiss pointed to her own mouth, and Ruby licked it clean.

“Aw, shucks.”

“You would’ve failed class like this, sis. You need to step up your stealth.” Yang said, petting her head. “Your speed is still perfect, though.”

“Thanks…” The brunette pouted, frustrated with herself. Everything was going so well, nobody was supposed to notice a thing – and Weiss was definitely the _last_ person who should’ve realized something was wrong. It was just standard procedure: Dealing with stealth is dangerous and your client should never, _ever_ notice anything odd, or else the entire mission is compromised.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head with a guilty glance. “…Will you tell him?”

“N-no, don’t worry,” Regaining her composure, Weiss cleaned her throat and looked at Yang. “I’d just like to know what happened here.” She forgot for a moment that she _was_ still their mistress and could demand explanations whenever she saw fit.

It was Yang’s turn to get a bit nervous. “O-of course. When I got here I met Junior and we talked for a bit and then we simply became instant best friends, you know?”

“He couldn’t stand her,” Blake intervened, pouring more tea on Weiss’s cup.

“Well, knowing that he hates his name for some reason, I started calling him by it whenever I could, just to mess with him. Then he asked what would it take for me to stop, and we made a friendly bet.”

“Which involved baking sixty-nine cookies…?” The sentence sounded so ridiculous that Weiss could barely pronounce it.

“If he was able to bake sixty-nine cookies in one hour, I’d stop calling him Junior and start calling him by whatever nickname he wanted. And so he did. But I didn’t want to stop messing with him, so I urged Ruby to help me carry a secret mission.”

“We called it: Operation Cookie Stealth Leads to Sweet Win-Win Situation.” Ruby said waving her hands in the air with each word. Weiss stared at both girls and could feel that they were both having way too much fun with this.

“Wait, so you were planning this since…?” Silly or not, the heiress was still amazed with how they used their abilities without attracting any attention at all.

“Oh, since five minutes ago. I just poked Ruby with my elbow when I was counting the cookies and she knew what to do. It’s bodyguard signal.”

“…You have a signal to steal cookies.”

“We were never taught this at Beacon, they came up with this signal themselves,” Blake quickly defended the little dignity she still had. Weiss was baffled with that entire complex operation that had happened right under her nose; she soon realized she would get used to those over-the-top schemes quickly enough living with those girls. It was just…

So exciting.

“Can I just ask one more question? Why sixty-nine exactly?” Weiss went for a last surprise to end that tiring breakfast. Yang just gave the slyest smile anyone could possibly give, but didn’t say anything.

Blake facepalmed. “Oh my _god, Xiao Long_.”

* * *

 

“So what do we do now?” Mercury asked as Cinder made her way to another room under their headquarters. Emerald was right beside her and looked over her shoulder.

“Isn’t it obvious? We clean up the mess.” She answered, smirking. Mercury rolled his eyes, but smiled as well. How he hated but loved that annoying girl. After Tuckson’s body was disposed of, Cinder started to think about their next course of action. They knew she was in deep thought simply because she wasn’t dignifying them with any kind of answer so far – but she was walking towards a very special room so Emerald and Mercury already grasped the idea.

Finally arriving at their destination, Cinder opened the door and turned on the lights, revealing a huge room with innumerous TV’s flickering images from apparently all over the city. The pictures were organized by neighborhood and street name, and it was safe to say that there wasn’t a single corner of Vale that wasn’t being shown on those screens.

“Yesterday I caught something very interesting in our favorite camera,” Cinder finally addressed them, projecting the image of one of the cameras to a larger screen in the middle. The picture showed the gates of the Schnee mansion, and a limo parked in front of them. She forwarded the tape until the gates opened and the car drove in; the view was lost after that since the camera reached only as far as the outer gates of the place, never inside. “Now tell me what was so interesting about it.”

Emerald immediately raised her hand. “We’ve never seen that limo go into the Schnee mansion before.”

“But we have seen it,” Cinder rewound the tape again and this time zoomed in the license plate. It was a bit blurry, but readable. “Haven’t we?”

Emerald and Mercury squinted their eyes, trying to remember something, and then both clicked at the same time. “Beacon.” Then they stared at each other, disgusted for having talked in unison.

“My dearest Beacon…” Cinder licked her lips in a nostalgic smirk. “Miss heiress has a new bodyguard, and I want to find out who it is. Ozpin always had such great taste…”

Turning on her heels, Cinder walked away, leaving both her subordinates behind. “Let’s go hunting, children.” She then stopped and looked at them. “Oh, and call Roman. He will love this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooooooooo I am back with plot stuffs! And I hope you're enjoying their relationships as well~
> 
> Reviews are always appreciated! Thank you for reading <3
> 
> \- niigoki


	4. The Raven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watch out, it's the plot! (I'm so sorry I'm taking so long on this story, please keep reading! I'm not over yet!)

“What are you doing?” Mercury’s voice resonated behind Emerald and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. He always interrupted her line of thought with stupid commentaries; couldn’t he deduce what she was doing just by looking at it? She realized he probably could but was asking anyway just to mess with her.

“Being useful,” She replied in a dry tone without looking back. He sat down next to her unceremoniously, both feet resting on the table where she was writing some coordinates.

“Nice. Did Cinder ask you to do this?”

She really wanted to shoot those feet off her table. “No, I’m getting ahead on the job.”

“Oh, so you’re being an ass-kisser.” Mercury smirked, grabbing some gum from his jacket pocket and chewing. Emerald halted her actions and stared right into his eyes with a deadly look.

“If wanting to be grateful to the person who took us out of the streets and gave us a home and a purpose in life is being an ass-kisser, Mercury, then I will gladly take this title.” And with that she resumed her work, completely done with that stupid boy. Mercury stood in silence for a while, then removed his feet off the table, scooting closer.

“Fine,” He said, a hint of honesty in his voice. “My bad. Let me do it too.”

Emerald raised an eyebrow. “Do what?”

“Be useful.”

“Oh, of course,” She turned her chair towards him and pushed an empty cup on his hands. “Go grab me some coffee, then. Two sugars, no cream. Thanks!” Returning to her position, she waved a hand, dismissing his presence. Mercury breathed out a laugh, indignant – but got up anyway, leaving the room. He knew when his presence wasn’t wanted.

Also, he just couldn’t say no to that brat, she knew his weaknesses.

* * *

 

Yang, Blake and Ruby were in the living room patiently waiting for Weiss to return with some information for them. After breakfast, the heiress went back to her room to brush her teeth and dress up more appropriately for the day, asking them to wait for a bit. While Blake sat down very immersed in a book she got from the library, Ruby just paced back and forward on the carpet unable to stand still for too long, and Yang simply teased her for being impatient.

Once Weiss finally came downstairs, the three bodyguards immediately returned to their positions with both hands behind their backs, lined up from tallest to shortest.

“Sorry for the delay,” Weiss said, still walking a bit slowly because of the injury. She was feeling better than before, but still needed a certain amount of caution while doing anything physical.

“Don’t worry Miss Schnee, we’re always ready to fit your schedule.” Blake replied with a kind expression.

“Are you alright?” Ruby asked worriedly, noticing the heiress massaging softly her ribs.

“Oh, yes, the doctor told me to keep doing this just to keep track of the healing process.” She sighed and frowned. “It’s a bit of a bother, but at least I’m able to finally walk on my own.”

The three girls nodded, still with a small apprehensive expression on their faces. Weiss wondered why such worry regarding her health considering she already told them she was fine, but brushed it off. “Well, I wanted to discuss with you today my schedule for tomorrow.”

With a swift move she grabbed some papers from the desk and handed them over. Yang took them all, allowing Blake and Ruby to take a peak from the sides. On them, a very well organized calendar was drawn, with dates and periods of the day separated by color. At the top of each paper the words ‘Weiss Schnee’s School Schedule’ were written in bold.

“Your handwriting is so pretty,” It was the first thing Ruby commented after reading everything thoroughly. Weiss blushed at that and coughed.

“Thank you.”

“You’re already going back to school?” Yang put down the papers, frowning. “Isn’t there a law that says you get at least one month of rest after a fatal stabbing?”

“Despite the poor choice of phrasing,” Blake glared at her partner, grabbing the papers to take a better look at them. “Yang is right. Are you sure you’re fit to leave the house already, Miss Schnee?”

“It’s not about being fit or not,” Weiss walked to the couch, sitting down. “I need to. I’m…” She paused, not sure if she should be opening up to them already. It was like she had a switch on her brain when it came to personal talk; Weiss never had the chance to actually vent about her problems with anyone, and she was taught her whole life that complaining about things to strangers was completely inappropriate behavior. Still, the looks on her bodyguards’ faces were enough to fill her with courage for once. “Staying cooped up in this place drives me crazy, if I’m to be completely honest with you.”

Yang sat down next to her, re-reading her schedule. “Of course, sorry about that. We’ll do our best to accompany you on your activities.”

Weiss cleared her throat. “Yes, about that… I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” She urged Blake and Ruby to sit down as well, not wanting to look up all the time while talking. “I know you need to, um… Look out for me the whole time, but I can’t have you following me into the classroom. Actually you won’t be allowed to get into the school grounds unless you have an authorization card and only students and teachers possess those.”

“Oh, like this one?” Yang took a card from her back pocket with her profile picture and name on it. At the lower right there was the title ‘Atlas Academy for Prestigious Students’ which made Weiss almost choke on her own saliva.

“How did you get that?!” Her eyes widened as she grabbed the card to look at it, trying to find something that hinted that it was a fake. Unfortunately the school stamp was very much real.

“Your father asked Mr. Ozpin to have at least one of us accompany you once you returned to school. He didn’t want to take any risks, and Mr. Ozpin has contacts everywhere, so it wasn’t that hard to enroll me at the high school.” Yang felt guilty for not telling Weiss sooner, but she just couldn’t find the right time until now.

“He enrolled you in my class??” The heiress’ voice was getting higher pitched with each new information, making the three girls flinch.

“Yes, ma’am.” Yang shrunk at the sudden outburst, which was weird to see since she was so tall. “I should’ve told you beforehand, my mistake.”

“N-no, it’s fine.” Weiss tried to calm down, giving Yang back her card. “I should’ve known father would do something like this. It’s not your fault.”

“You don’t really want any of us there, do you?” Ruby said, but not really hinting sadness. Weiss realized soon enough that the young girl was the most perceptive of all of them, emotion-wise; she always knew exactly what she was thinking solely by the way Weiss expressed her words.

“That’s not it…” Weiss sighed, recomposing herself. She looked down at her knees, thinking about what she wanted to say and how to explain it. “I just… I don’t want anyone to know I have a bodyguard now. Or… three. If there is one thing people respected about me in that place is how confident I seemed to be for not walking around protected all the time, even being a Schnee. And then I got stabbed and everyone already knows about it, and the last thing I wanted was to give them the satisfaction.”

The bodyguards stood quiet, exchanging looks with one another. Weiss took a moment to close her eyes and recompose herself, breathing in deeply (but not too deep, her ribs still hurt a bit). Then she opened and rolled them, annoyed at her self-pity. “Well, that sounded condescending. Never mind any of that, please feel free to do your job.”

Blake gently touched her arm. “If it’s of any help, Miss Schnee, me and Ruby will dress up as civilians and stay completely hidden for most of the time. Our intention was never to go out in suits and pose as obvious bodyguards for you.”

“Yeah!” Ruby nodded. “We’ll only be checking the perimeter from time to time for potential threats outside the school. I even brought a dress for my disguise!”

Weiss tried to imagine Ruby with a girly dress and that mental image made her giggle out loud. Honestly, trying to picture any of them in anything other than a suit felt bizarre. “A dress?”

“She says it’s a combat skirt.” Yang winked at her sister with a smug expression, and the young girl just poked her tongue in return.

“The only one who will be effectively near you is Yang.” Blake finished, glaring at her partner somewhat dangerously. She simply ignored it.

“Yeah! I even got my own uniform and everything, it looks totally cute on me,” The blonde seemed to have an appreciation for expensive-looking clothes. “I don’t even have to talk to you if you wish, ma’am. I may not look like it, but I can pull off the ‘quiet lonely girl who just studies on her own and doesn’t talk to people because everyone probably annoys her too much with their incessant blabber about cute boys’ look pretty well.”

The heiress laughed out loud at that. It was amazing how easily they could make her mood improve just by being silly, and for once she thought that having Yang in her class wouldn’t be that bad.

“I think I can deal with that.” Weiss genuinely smiled for the first time that day, her chest warm and her stomach fluffy.

With the conversation apparently over and everything sorted out, she got up. The heiress still had an entire day off and had honestly no clue on how to spend it. Luckily for her, she had three very excitable girls next to her, so she felt less lonely.

“So…” She started, hesitating a bit. “Are you free right now?”

“We might have to check our schedules,” Yang replied, smirking. Ruby’s smile widened absurdly and she immediately grabbed Weiss’ hand.

“Let me show you my dress!”

* * *

 

“Mr. Ironwood, the new nurse is here to see you.”

“Oh, let her in. Thank you, Melanie.” The tall man answered through the phone and reclined back in his chair. The door to his office opened swiftly as his guest entered the room. She was a slender woman, dressed in a white uniform with her long black hair tied in a nice bun. Her red heels clicked in the wooden floor, and made her seem taller than she actually was.

“Miss Fall! I appreciate your time,” James Ironwood got up to welcome her with a tight handshake.

“Just Cinder is fine, Mr. Ironwood,” She replied with a friendly smile. “And I’m the one who should be thankful for this opportunity. Getting to work at Atlas Academy is just… a dream come true.”

“You flatter me,” James sat back down. “You came at such a convenient time. Our last nurse, as you already might know, suddenly came down with a terrible disease and will need to go back home for an indefinite period of time. We’re all praying for her recovery soon.”

Cinder sat down as well and crossed her legs. “And so I’ve heard. What an unfortunate irony, the nurse getting sick.”

“Isn’t it?” With a touch of a button, Mr. Ironwood called his secretary and asked her to bring two cups of tea. “Unless you wish for something else?”

“Tea sounds lovely,” Cinder answered. “Never in a million years I’d think I would be sharing tea with the headmaster of Atlas Academy…” She brought a hand over to her lips, as if ashamed. “I’m sorry, I keep repeating myself.”

“No worries.” James lifted one hand in a sign of peace. “Your curriculum is impressive as well. Worked at four different hospitals for eight years now? With your experience I honestly thought you wouldn’t bat an eye to a request from a high school, to be quite frank.”

“People are people, and taking care of them has always been my priority. I’m glad to be of service for the most influent kids of our generation, Mr. Ironwood.” Cinder smiled.

Melanie knocked on the door and walked in with a silver tray and two cups of tea. James thanked her and sipped his beverage with gusto. Cinder contented herself with blowing off the hot steam for a while.

“I’m happy to hear that. So, I know we talked briefly over the phone, but will you be able to start tomorrow?” James asked.

“Of course. I’ll have my assistant bring all the essential tools and medicines in a heartbeat,” Cinder finally let the tea touch her lips and sighed. “I’m terribly sorry that he couldn’t come today, but his name is Roman and we’ve been working together for as long as I remember.”

“A trusty fellow, then.”

“One of the best,” She smirked, as if reminded of an inside joke. James nodded at that.

“Very well, I’ll make my way to the Nurse’s Office tomorrow to greet him, then.” He put down his teacup and opened a drawer, grabbing a few sheets of paper. “Not meaning to hurry, but this is your contract and I’ll need you to sign it before you begin working at the Academy, Miss Fall.”

“Of course.” Cinder disposed of her cup and immediately began to move her eyes back and forth, pretending to read it. She’d already memorized everything back at her headquarters, but James didn’t need to know that. A few minutes passed and she finally grabbed a pen, signing her name flawlessly. “There you go, sir.”

“Wonderful,” James double-checked the signatures before putting the papers away. “Very well, then.” Getting up, he held out his hand once again. “Welcome aboard Atlas Academy, Miss Cinder Fall.”

“It is an honor, Mr. Ironwood.” Cinder shook his hand fiercely.

“Oh, and one more thing.” James was about to escort her to the door when he remembered something. “As you might’ve seen in the news, a very important student of ours recently got… assaulted. She’s been recovering well at home, but will be back to school tomorrow.”

“Miss Schnee, correct?” Cinder said that with the most innocent expression she could manage. “Such an awful thing, that poor girl.”

“Indeed. And while she says she’s already well enough to return, her father still asked her to make daily visits to the Nurse’s Office. You know, just to make sure her wound is healing properly.”

“I understand.” Cinder nodded, walking towards the exit. “Don’t worry, Mr. Ironwood. I’ll make sure Miss Schnee is in top condition everyday.”


	5. To One in Paradise

_Clink. Clink, clink. Buzz!_

“Your posture is all wrong,” The sound of Weiss’ voice reverberated through the room as she spoke. She didn’t exactly yell, but the size of the place was big enough to create an echo regardless. One of the figures covered up entirely by a fencing attire dropped her shoulders and lifted her mask.

“This is way too hard.”

“It’s easy if you have prior experience with weapons,” The second person smirked from under the mask, lifting it after realizing her partner had given up. “Oh, not even gonna try?”

“Blake, I’m a boxer. Get rid of that metal stick and let’s see who’s got the upper hand.” Yang replied, sweating from the heat of the uniform. She was clearly frustrated, not only for the inability of getting the basics of fencing right, but also from the smug expression on Blake’s face.

“Such poor sportsmanship, Xiao Long.” The dark-haired girl said, unfazed.

Weiss tried to hide a smile, but it was difficult. She knew about the rivalry the two of them had, and honestly that was the reason she picked them to be the first round in their friendly fencing match. After spending almost two hours with Ruby and Yang excitedly showing off their outfits and playing dress up, Weiss got reasonably tired and asked them to do something else. Blake was the one who remembered about the fencing room she’d seen in the house tour, and Weiss’ eyes shone.

“Yeah, whatever, you won. I bow down to your knowledge on swords, Belladonna.” Yang walked towards the bench where Weiss and Ruby were waiting for their turn. Putting down her helmet carefully, she sat besides her sister.

“It’s called a foil. And I’ve never tried fencing before. It’s refreshing.” Blake stared at her weapon with interest.

“You’re very good at it.” Weiss got up, grabbing her own helmet. She was still a bit injured, but was fine enough to do what she loved most. It was the only thing in that house that gave her a sense of satisfaction, and even then it was boring when the only opponent she had was a dummy. It’s been a while since she’d felt this excited for a duel.

“Thank you,” Blake smiled, repositioning herself. “I’ve trained with various types of swords, but the ones which are actually meant to kill. I never imagined that one day I’d be fighting for sport.”

“Putting me on fencing classes was the only thing father did for me that actually makes me grateful,” Weiss replied, connecting the wires on her outfit. She walked towards Blake and poked her with the tip of the foil to test the equipment, and then stepped back again.

“Practicing something that allows you to defend yourself is always a good idea,” Blake agreed with a nod.

“Let’s see if it paid up,” Said Weiss with a smirk, and after the regular salute, they pulled their masks down and got into fighting stance.

“Go Weiss!” Ruby cheered, waving a towel she got from the bathroom.

“Avenge me!” Yang joined her with a bottle of water.

The first few seconds were intense; Weiss had observed Blake’s fighting style closely as she dueled Yang, but the blonde was too clumsy to be considered a real challenge (not that Weiss would ever tell her that). Blake probably had so many skills hidden under her sleeve, being professionally trained and all. But then again, so was Weiss Schnee.

She made the first move, stepping forward slightly to see Blake’s reaction. The bodyguard barely shifted on her spot, waiting for her to get closer. The rules were simple: first point won. It was a fast score match, so every move counted, and Weiss wanted to win very badly. She advanced again, this time making contact with Blake’s foil, smirking as the bodyguard parried with impeccable precision. In a heartbeat, Blake tried to counterattack, but Weiss was quicker on her feet and retreated, knocking her weapon away. Both stayed still, and the room was so quiet that Ruby and Yang could hear the other two girls breathing from under their masks.

Then, out of nowhere, Blake advanced in three large steps, taking the heiress completely by surprise. With a powerful thrust, Blake’s foil brushed past Weiss’ left arm, but luckily for her it didn’t land on her chest. Breathing fast and realizing this was an opportunity, Weiss took her chances and thrust her own foil, aiming at Blake’s chest. The bodyguard retrieved her arm and stepped back, managing to deflect Weiss’ weapon in a circular motion with her own sword. Weiss blinked, absolutely startled with the agility displayed the girl.

“How…?” She panted hard, starting to get tired.

“Reflex.” Blake’s voice was stoic, solely focused on her target at hand. Weiss realized how scary she could be, and felt like she’d just become a prey.

She decided to wait until Blake moved again, allowing herself to breathe for a moment. That’s when she realized this was probably a terrible idea, since her bodyguard was too damn fast; Weiss could lose in an instant if she let her guard down. Blake was still on her place, though, apparently formulating a plan of attack. Weiss thought back on when the bodyguard had attacked her and noticed that, while she was fast and had exquisite reflexes, her aim was not that good. Then she had an idea, one that would probably fail, but was worth trying.

Suddenly Blake advanced once more, too fast for Weiss to process, but with the same crooked aim. This time instead of dodging, the heiress stood still and simply lifted her arm. Blake’s speed made it hard for her to stop in time, and her body ended up too close from Weiss’ blade.

_Buzz!_

Blake’s foil bent over as it touched Weiss’ left arm, but the green light pointed to the Schnee. Looking down, the bodyguard saw her client’s weapon buried perfectly on her heart.

They stood there, rooted to the ground, shoulders rising and falling with the rhythm of their breathing.

“Your aim is sloppy,” Was all Weiss managed to say before collapsing on her knees. In a second Ruby and Yang were by her side.

“Weiss! Are you okay?” Ruby said, worried.

“I’m… I’m alright.” Weiss took off her mask and Ruby offered her the towel. “Thank you.”

Lifting her own mask, Blake kneeled down as well. “I’m impressed. That was some risk you took.”

Weiss wiped her forehead and drank some water from Yang’s bottle before smiling. “You said you’ve worked with swords before, but never fenced. I figured the weight of the foil was different for you. You tend to aim too much on the right side.”

Blake couldn’t suppress a grin. “Touché.”

“Literally.” Weiss replied, earning a giggle from the dark haired girl. Yang helped her stand up, and she looked at the blonde. “Consider yourself avenged, Miss Xiao Long.”

It was probably the first time she saw Yang stare at her open-mouthed, and Weiss realized she liked that.

“So,” After stretching her muscles, Weiss put her mask back on. “Who’s next?”

* * *

 

It was finally night, and after losing 3 consecutive rounds, Blake finally managed to defeat the invincible Schnee. Ruby posed a good challenge with her ridiculous speed, but ended up making the same mistakes as Blake, and lost fairly quickly. She was just too eager and anxious, and fencing was a sport of patience, Weiss had said. Yang just sat there and watched, apparently unable to move her eyes away from Weiss’ figure as she dueled.

After a while the heiress started complaining about her wound and the bodyguards decided that it was better if they stopped for the day. Currently, Weiss was upstairs taking a long bubble bath, and the girls were on their room waiting for her to return so they could have dinner together.

“We should do that again, soon. It was so fun!” Ruby was lying down on Yang’s bed as she normally did, her legs moving up and down while she waited.

“We better let Miss Schnee recover fully, though. We were a little imprudent by allowing her to strain herself so much,” Blake sat down on a chair, with a book about fencing on hands. She obviously wanted to train more, but had to be considered of her client’s health.

“Yeah…” Yang just sat by the window as a warm breeze brushed through her hair. She was staring at the sky, not really paying attention to the conversation behind her.

Blake raised an eyebrow. “You look thoughtful.”

“Sure.”

Ruby and Blake exchanged looks.

“Yang, you okay?” Ruby asked, sitting up.

“Yeah… What?” Blinking, the blonde apparently snapped out of whatever trance she was in. “Oh, yeah! I’m awesome.”

“Are you still mad your loss was pitiful?” Ruby teased her with a playful smile.

“Come on, I told you, my specialty is closed combat.”

“Oh, like that one time we spared an you lost too?”

“I let you win so you wouldn’t cry later, you big baby!”

As the sisters bickered, the mood seemed to return back to normal, but Blake wasn’t buying it. She considered inquiring more, but someone knocked on the door.

“Um, dinner is served! Would you like me to wait until you are ready?” Weiss asked from the other side. Ruby jumped off the bed and opened the door.

“We were waiting for you! Come on Yang, quit daydreaming and let’s eat.”

“Shut it, midget.” Yang replied, climbing down. Weiss giggled as the sisters walked past her and Blake decided that dinner was a priority right now. She would interrogate her partner later.

* * *

 

“A nurse at Atlas. How the hell did you manage that?” The man’s voice was amused as he looked at Cinder sitting beside him in the bar. She took a sip of her martini, sighing contently as the liquid burned through her throat.

“Please, don’t act surprised. I get personally offended when you pretend to be shocked when I get what I want.”

“Oh Miss Fall, do tell,” Roman called the bartender and asked for another beer. The bar was pretty much full, providing a perfect environment for a private conversation between two of the underground’s most dangerous criminals.

“Emerald and Mercury are such talented children, I still don’t know why you insist on mistreating them.”

“Not sure you’ve noticed, dearie, but I hate children.” His beer arrived, quickly as always. “Thanks!”

“Well you better start liking them, because I got you a job.” Cinder’s sly grin always got under his skin, but Roman was unable to hate it. When she’d called him that night and informed about the failure of the Schnee murder, he got pissed. But then a few days later Cinder Fall contacted him again, asking him out on a business date, and that got him curious.

“Oh?”

“So you better wake up early tomorrow, Doctor Torchwick.” Then Cinder finished her whole drink in a gulp, and got up. Roman stood there, speechless.

“What the— Cinder! Oh, for fuck’s sake.” He grabbed his beer and threw some cash on the counter. “Keep the change, that’s for the both of us.”

The bartender simply nodded as he watched the man with eyeliner run after the woman in the red dress.

Roman managed to slip by the crowd and leave the bar, looking left and right, searching for his partner. He sighted her on the other side of the street with a cigarette on her mouth and a provocative look on her face.

“Are you really going to make me go over there?” He yelled. Cinder simply winked. He sighed angrily, and looked both ways to make sure he wasn’t going to be hit by a car. Finally reaching her, Roman drank his beer before speaking. “Now, care to elaborate?”

Cinder took a drag and blew the smoke on his face. “You’re coming with me.”

“To where?!”

“Atlas. I’m the nurse, you’re my assistant. It’s been decided.”

“What the hell?”

She stepped forward, getting on his personal space. “Don’t you want to kill the Schnee, Roman?”

He stepped back, not in the mood for her little games. “That’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

“Then what’s better than doing it with your own hands?”

Roman stared at her, almost wondering if she was telling the truth or if this was just another lie to make his life miserable. Then he realized it was very much true, and that Cinder Fall was giving him the chance of a lifetime. Slowly, his mouth twisted into a smile and he started laughing. He threw the beer bottle away, and turned back to her. “At what time should I be there, doctor?”

* * *

 

Dinner went by smoothly. Ruby cracked jokes about Yang’s embarrassing loss and in return Yang exposed her sister’s weaknesses, like being ticklish under her chin. Weiss laughed at all of this, and kept asking more about how their lives at Beacon had been. Blake in return asked her for fencing lessons, which Weiss was more than happy to oblige. At one point even Junior joined the conversation, by Yang’s request. She kept talking about a new challenge for him, in a way to redeem himself and get the blonde to stop calling him Junior all the time. Then he cursed in mandarin, causing Yang to reply in the same language and then a succession of rapid-fire dialogue happened between the two. Nobody asked.

Weiss was glad for the lively dinner, and felt her chest tightening with the realization that one day they would leave and she’d be back at eating alone. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the thought.

After they finished their desserts, Ruby asked if Weiss wished to watch a movie before going to bed. Weiss agreed after a while. It’s not like she had anything better to do.

“We’ll join you soon,” Blake said, grabbing Yang’s arm. “I just want to discuss some things with Yang about tomorrow’s schedule.”

“Of course,” Weiss answered. Ruby grabbed her hand and they went to the living room, the heiress blushing and mentioning she knew where the TV was, thank you very much. Ruby was having none of it.

Blake guided Yang to the garden, far away from the two girls. Once they reached the fountain, the dark haired bodyguard crossed her arms and stared at the blonde. Yang rolled her eyes.

“You have that look on your face that says ‘you’re in trouble, Xiao Long’.”

“You’re distracted. You can’t afford to be distracted, not when _you’re_ the one protecting Miss Schnee tomorrow.”

“Wow, chill! Where is this coming from?”

“You know where, Yang.” Blake looked down, touching the wet marble. “How was dinner?”

Yang was confused. “Um… good? You were there?”

“Yes I was. And I watched your every move.”

“That’s not creepy at all.”

“Yang,” Blake looked up at her, right in the eyes. “You stuttered. You couldn’t stop looking at her. You had that dumb smile on your face when she laughed, and don’t think I didn’t see what happened on the fencing room. You’re acting exactly like you did one year ago. Your behavioral pattern is the same, and you remember how _that_ ended up.”

“What?” Yang frowned. “You’re crazy.”

“I’m beginning to think I should be the one infiltrated.”

“Blake, cut it out!”

“Then pull yourself together!” Blake yelled back, grabbing her by the shoulders. “If you start falling for her, Yang, I swear to god I will contact Ozpin and you will be out of this job.”

They stood there in silence, Yang’s hands closed in a fist as if she was about to punch Blake right there. But she wouldn’t, and Blake had to cut to the chase as fast as she could, even if it meant hurting her best friend.

“I’m not falling for her.”

“Say that again.”

“I am not. Falling for Weiss.” She brusquely removed her shoulders from Blake’s grasp. “Now quit talking nonsense and let me do my job.”

She turned around and started walking away with heavy footsteps. Blake sighed, and followed her soon after, frustrated.

Yang was falling for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, strike one.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next up, Weiss finally goes back to school!


	6. Israfel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been so busy lately, but this story is still alive. I deeply apologize for the huge delay and hope you still enjoy it!

Weiss figured that she would wake up fairly easy since she’d been excited to go back to school, but apparently yesterday’s shenanigans took a bigger toll on her body than expected. Turning around to check the clock, she noticed her alarm had gone off 20 minutes ago. Her eyes widened and she jumped out of bed, cringing as she felt a sharp throb on her rib. That stupid wound was probably worse thanks to her stubbornness, but Weiss didn’t regret it. She’d had an amazing time.

Her years of methodical thinking also came in handy, since she’d left everything ready for when she woke up: the school uniform was already separated from the other clothes, just like her make up and skin care products. The only thing missing was breakfast and Weiss hated to eat in a hurry. Sighing, she dressed and tidied up, cleaning her face and brushing her teeth. There was no time to spend hours on a perfect make up, so she just applied the basics and swiftly opened the door to go downstairs.

Then her face hit a wall of yellow hair.

“What the—”

“Wow, careful!” Yang reached out to grab Weiss’ arm and stop her from falling on her butt. “I’m sorry for that! Are you okay?”

The heiress blinked a few times. “Y-yes, I’m ok.” She looked up and saw her bodyguard holding a silver platter. “Um, is everything alright? Why were you waiting outside my room?”

With a smile and a bow only professional waitresses could muster, Yang offered her the tray, which contained eggs benedict and a cup of coffee. “You were late, so I figured you wouldn’t want to wait long for breakfast, mistress.”

Weiss’ face slowly reddened as she took the platter. “I thought I hired you as my bodyguard, not my personal butler,” Then she noticed. “You haven’t even put your uniform on yet!”

“That won’t even take a minute. Your health comes first.” Turning around, Yang waved as she went downstairs. “Eat well!”

Weiss stood there for a second before slowly closing her door and placing the food on her desk. Sitting down, her eyes caught the sight of a small note under the plate. Picking it up and unfolding it, a smile unconsciously made way to her features as she read it.

_Consider this a thanks for avenging me yesterday._

“How completely unnecessary…” Weiss muttered, shoving food into her mouth and trying very hard to wipe the smile off her face.

At the living room, Blake, of course, was waiting for Yang with a killer stare. She was already on her casual outfit: a pair of khaki brown shorts, a baby blue shirt, black heels and sunglasses, clothes that were completely out of character for someone like her. The perfect disguise.

Yang ignored it and walked past her.

“Breakfast in bed? Really?”

“Oh, bite me.”

“You wish,” She couldn’t suppress a smirk at that sentence, but soon got serious again. “You’re not making a very good job at the whole ‘I am not falling for her’ act, you know.”

Yang stopped on her heels and turned at her. “Are you seriously going to judge every single nice gesture I do for her now? She was late, I got Hei to cook her some breakfast, and now she’s not late anymore and we can keep to the schedule. God, Blake.”

Lifting both hands, Blake decided to let it go. “Fine. But I won’t let you hurt her, _or_ yourself. I’ll still keep an eye on you.” Then she frowned. “Wait… Who is Hei?”

“Junior.”

“Did you… did you actually make a truce?”

“Didn’t you hear our heartfelt conversation yesterday at dinner?” Yang’s smug grin always pissed Blake off. The black haired girl told her to leave with a hand motion.

“Go change, already.”

“Finally, I’m off the hook,” Walking towards their room, Yang opened the door. “And where the hell is Ruby?”

“YANG!” Said girl suddenly jumped out of the room and on top of her sister, and if Yang didn’t have the reflexes she did, Ruby would probably have fallen face-first on the floor. “I can’t pick an outfit!”

Holding her with one hand and peaking inside, she saw the absolute mess the room was in. Dozens of clothes scattered through the floor, on their beds, and a dress was even covering the TV. Yang sighed.

“I don’t get paid enough for this.”

* * *

 

The car was spacious enough to fit four people and the driver, and Weiss was happy to have some company while they made their way to the school. Usually it would be just her on the 20-minute ride, which she’d spent with earplugs on listening to some music and the occasional news. This time she was listening to Ruby’s singing voice.

“Would you please not,” Yang tried to make her sister shut up, but the short bodyguard was having too much fun on the radio.

“Okay, okay, last one.” Ruby changed stations until she found another appealing song. “Yes! This one is good. Come on, Yang, you know all the lyrics for this one.”

Yang just rolled her eyes, but Weiss could see she would break at any point. And so she did. Blake emitted an ‘ugh’ sound while the two sisters screamed their lungs out at the beat of the nostalgic song, and covered her ears. “If you make this a habit everyday, I will have you two going in a different car.”

Weiss was about to say she didn’t mind – which she really didn’t, it was making the ride much more fun – but her ears were starting to plea for help.

“You could use some training,” She said with a soft grin, turning down the volume a bit. With this statement, Ruby halted completely and slowly turned to her.

“Wait…” She managed to crawl closer to the heiress, climbing on top of Yang. “Does that mean… you sing?” Her voice was heavy with expectancy. Weiss blushed, knowing where this was going.

“W-well, yes, but—”

“This is so cool!” And with that, Ruby got back to her seat. Weiss was waiting for the inevitable ‘sing us something’, but it never came. The car went silent for a minute and she was confused. Looking outside the window she realized they were about to arrive in 5 minutes, and sighed.

“…I could sing something if you want.”

The three bodyguards turned to her. Ruby’s eyes were shining. “Oh! Of course, I’d love to hear your voice!”

 _Isn’t she smooth,_ Weiss thought. It was almost like Ruby knew she would offer after that, but decided to ignore the obvious trap she’d fallen into and cleared her throat. “I haven’t sung in a while, so I might be rusty.”

The three just nodded with confidence, and Weiss turned off the radio. She closed her eyes, picturing a stage, the place where she felt most confortable singing. There were no people in her imaginary audience; she just liked the thought of an empty theater for some reason. And then the first note came out. Then the second. By the third she was already getting the hang of it, and the words flowed naturally. Then the verse ended and she opened her eyes, not wanting to lose track of time.

Weiss blinked as she saw the three girls looking at her with their mouths slightly opened and a gleam in their eyes. “Um…”

Yang was the first to snap out of it. “T-that was amazing, Weiss!”

Then Ruby followed. “Yeah! Was that opera? Your voice is beautiful!”

Weiss was used to the compliments – after all she _was_ professionally trained and took pride in her voice – but still, for some reason her heart was beating fast. “T-thank you. I’ve had lessons. I still do, actually, I just stopped because of the accident.”

Blake apparently was still in a stupor and was only brought back to reality once Yang elbowed her in the ribs. “R-right. Well, I believe we’re here.” She rubbed her eyes, trying to regain focus. “Um… oh, right. As discussed, Miss Schnee will get out of the car alone. Nobody can know we came with her. Then the car will drop us on the next street, where Ruby and I will hang around the block and Yang will make her way to the school building. We’ll be waiting nearby until you wish to go home. You have our numbers on your phone, so you can ring at any time.”

Yang side-eyed Blake suspiciously, but didn’t say anything. Weiss nodded, and the car finally stopped. The girls huddled away from the door, in case someone decided to peak inside while Weiss opened it. “Alright then. Well, I’ll see you later! Except for Yang.” She smiled and got off the car.

As the vehicle moved again to drop them off at the next corner, Yang crossed her arms and stared at Blake with a smug grin. The black-haired bodyguard raised an eyebrow. “What?”

The car stopped again, and Yang opened the door. “Hypocrite.” Then she slammed it shut.

* * *

“I thought you couldn’t look more ridiculous, yet fate has proved my wrong,” Cinder’s voice resonated amused through the Nurse’s Office as she sat down in the doctor’s chair. The place was shining brightly, as if brand new, which always put her in a good mood regardless of the situation. Organized and clean workplaces were important for any mission.

“Ha ha,” Roman pushed his newly dyed black-pitch hair back and shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. “I can’t believe you made me forsake the eyeliner _and_ my hair. Now I look like an uncle who plays golf on his days off.”

“Isn’t that the whole point?” She got up and adjusted the crooked diploma on the wall on top of her. “Doctor Roman Hermann. A fitting name for an assistant who works with rich kids.”

“If you’re the nurse, shouldn’t _you_ be _my_ assistant?” He jabbed back, fighting the urge to remove the damn lab coat and throw it across the room. It was too hot to wear something like this, even with the air-conditioner on.

“Nursing focus on the health care of individuals and has a wide scope of practice areas. Students feel more comfortable telling their parents they went to the nurse than to the doctor, therefore the title.” She approached Roman with each word, towering over his measly form in a threatening manner. “Also, your title is just for display, while I happen to actually know what I’m doing.”

Roman scoffed, but backed off for now. He knew when to give up around Cinder Fall. “Right.”

The office’s door then opened suddenly, and both partners returned to a casual position.

“May I come in?” James Ironwood asked softly.

“Mr. Ironwood!” Cinder greeted cheerfully, and Roman had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from dying of laughter. “Please, come in right away.”

“I’m just passing by to greet the famous Doctor Hermann,” He stepped inside with one hand ready to be shook and Roman soon complied.

“The pleasure is all mine, sir.” He griped his hand tightly, in a display of trust and camaraderie. He was surprised to feel how sturdy the headmaster’s hand was, and made a mental note to tell Cinder of his discoveries as soon as the man left. “We couldn’t be more proud of the job we were assigned here at Atlas.”

“Ah, yes. The youth is the future!” James chuckled, retrieving his hand. “I’m quite busy, so I should be going. If there’s anything missing from the office, please inform me. We’ll make sure to place an order for any medicine or equipment you might need.”

“Absolutely,” Cinder nodded. “Everything seems to be in order so far.”

“That’s good to hear. Well, have a good day, doctors.” James tip his head in acknowledgement and left as quickly as he came. Roman and Cinder went back to their respective chairs and stood in silence for a few minutes. When the school bell went off to announce the beginning of classes, Roman smirked.

“They say some people govern with a metal fist.”

Cinder raised an eyebrow, confused.

“I guess _Iron_ wood doesn’t pertain to just his name.” He tried again.

The woman didn’t budge. Roman threw his head back and sighed, frustrated. “The guy’s got a literal metal hand.”

Cinder blinked. “Oh.”

* * *

To say Weiss was nervous was putting it lightly. She thought she would have the sufficient acting skills to pretend she didn’t know Yang when the blonde introduced herself to the class, but apparently she overestimated herself. As the bodyguard spoke in front of everyone, Weiss’ leg bounced up and down and she could feel herself blushing ridiculously so. She had no idea what had gotten into her, but her chest was compressed and her palms were sweaty, making it very hard to maintain a calm posture around people.

Yang fared much better. She was friendly and soothing, and didn’t look at Weiss’ direction once as she told her fake story. Apparently she was the daughter of rich immigrants from Vale and her father was a businessman of high scale. No one would doubt her story because many of the students were basically the same, and her outgoing personality made it easier for people to accept her accordingly. Her presentation was nothing short of perfect.

“Thank you, miss Xiao Long. Please take a seat next to miss Schnee.” The teacher announced.

Weiss’ heart almost stopped beating as she looked to her right and saw an empty desk. She had been so nervous that didn’t even process what that could’ve meant. Yang thanked the teacher and made her way to her table, smiling at the people as she crossed the room. Once she reached Weiss, she smiled again, politely. The heiress nodded fast, ready to faint whenever.

When the class started, Weiss would steal some glances at Yang’s direction from five to five minutes, but the blonde seemed focused on the lesson each time. She scribbled on her notebook, answered correctly when asked questions, and just generally did well in class. Some students seemed impressed with the new girl, and as the bell rang for recess, they soon started talking to her.

“You’re so smart, you think you can teach me this part in algebra class?”

“So you came all the way from Vale?”

“How is life in Atlas so far?”

“I absolutely love your hair!”

“Weiss?” Someone called for the heiress who was trying to look like she wasn’t listening to everything people asked about the blonde. She jumped on her seat as a hand touched her shoulder.

“I’m sorry!” It was a red-headed girl, tall and very feminine. “You’re probably still jumpy from the incident, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Pyrrha…” Weiss sighed, relieved. “No, you didn’t— I was just distracted.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Pyrrha giggled and stared at the new student. “She does look very interesting, doesn’t she?”

“Wonder how much she had to pay to be able to transfer in the middle of the semester!” Another girl jumped from behind Pyrrha, making Weiss almost fall from her chair for the third time that day.

“Nora, quiet down! She’s right there!” Pyrrha hushed her, worried.

“Don’t worry, her wall of popularity blocks out the noises,” Nora sat down with her legs spread open in a chair, rolling her eyes. “Look at that! She’s been here for three hours and even Cardin is all over her.”

Weiss turned around to see that the jock was indeed almost falling face-first into Yang’s lap. Something about that terribly bothered her, and she turned back to her friends. “She’s _wa_ y out of his league.”

Pyrrha and Nora tilted their heads in synchrony, confused, and Weiss quickly tried to regain her posture. “I m-mean, that’s what she looks like. And let’s be real, Cardin? When did he ever manage to talk to a girl like a decent human being?”

“Apparently just now,” Nora pointed at the group around the blonde and Weiss turned again just to see her excitedly chatting with said boy. She laughed at all his stupid jokes, making everyone around a bit uncomfortable, and Weiss’ mouth hung open. She was about to get up in a fit of uncontrolled indignation when Yang’s eyes suddenly caught hers. There was a glimpse in them, as if she was saying _‘calm down’_ , and that made Weiss snap out of her ridiculous tantrum. With an imperceptible nod, she looked back to her friends.

“Well, good luck for them.” She said finally, way calmer than before. The two friends were still trying to figure out what was wrong with her when Weiss got up. “Actually, I need to go to the Nurse’s Office.”

“Oh, we’ll come with you!” Nora suggested, and while Weiss was very tempted to take the offer, she still felt like this was something she needed to take care of alone. She wouldn’t let her wound bother anyone else.

“It’s fine, it’s just a quick check-up. I’ll be back before next class.” She got up, thankful for her friends’ help, and made her way out of class. Before she could reach the door, however, there was a crashing noise and everyone went quiet. Weiss’s head spun backwards and she saw Yang and Cardin on the floor, with Yang’s desk on top of her. All she wanted to do was to run over to her bodyguard and check if she was okay, but this would blow her disguise.

“What happened?” Someone asked as they helped Yang get up.

“I— I am so sorry!” Cardin looked terrified as he tried to assemble the table back up. Apparently one of the screws was loose, causing the whole table to dismantle as soon as Cardin leaned on it to show off his muscles, making Yang fall down with him as well.

“Ouch… It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault…” Yang rubbed her chin and Weiss noticed the ugly cut on it. “Um, I might have to get this checked, though. Can someone show me the Nurse’s Office?”

“I’m going there right now.” Weiss’ didn’t have time to stop herself.

“Oh, may I come with you? I think I’m bleeding quite a bit…”

“O-of course. It’s this way,” Her heart was beating fast again, but for different reasons now. She knew Yang had probably sustained way worse injuries than a simple cut on the chin, but seeing her getting hurt made Weiss feel extremely worried. Yang excused herself and then followed the heiress outside the classroom. “I’m Yang, by the way.”

“Weiss.” She mumbled, not really paying attention to their dialogue. After turning into a corner at the hallway and making sure there was no one around, Weiss suddenly pulled Yang inside a bathroom. She checked each stall for unwanted guests, and happy with the lack of them, finally yelled in a whisper, “Are you okay??”

Yang blinked, shocked at the sudden outburst. “What? Oh, yes, I’m totally fine!” She removed her hand from the cut. “It wasn’t that deep.”

“Don’t scare me like that!” Weiss breathed out, relieved to see that it was really just a minor cut and that the blonde had overreacted it. “I thought you were seriously hurt.”

“Aww, she worries about me,” Yang teased, receiving a slap on her arm.

“Of course I do, idiot.” The heiress felt a blush threatening to crawl up her neck and crossed her arms. “And what kind of poor school management is this? If that table caused an accident like this, who’s to say what other school propriety might be in such bad conditions? This is unaccept—” She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at her bodyguard.

“Calm down, safety inspector.” Yang smiled and opened her palm, revealing a small metal screw. “I might have done some damage to the furniture. I’m sure everything in school is safe.”

Weiss widened her eyes. “Why would you do that?”

“I have to make sure the Nurse’s Office is a safe place if you’re going to go there on a daily basis,” Yang closed her hand, sounding guilty now. “I’m sorry to have tricked you like this, but it’s standard procedure. I swear I won’t pull this off again.”

Everything suddenly made sense and Weiss felt herself calming down considerably. Yang probably knew someone like Cardin would have no respect for personal space and do something like lie on someone’s desk uninvited. The accident was perfectly planned, and those things reminded her that she was dealing with professionals. Weiss sighed, shaking her head. “…I understand.” Then she tiptoed to get a closer look at Yang’s chin, bringing her hand to the blonde’s jaw delicately. “You sure this doesn’t hurt?”

They were suddenly very close and Yang swallowed hard. “Y-yeah! It’s just a scratch. I’ve had worse, trust me.”

“I bet,” Weiss smiled and backed away. “Let’s go then, mischief-maker.”

As Weiss left the bathroom, Yang followed and stared at her client’s form. On the outside the blonde was casual and stoic, but on the inside she was a fluttering mess.

_Shit._


End file.
